Why Have I Been Referred? 

Psychological evaluations are requested to understand how your mind is working. Is it behaving properly? Is it reacting and thinking properly and if not how so? Changes in memory, cognition, thinking or behavior may be signaled by changes in concentration, organization, reasoning, memory, language, perception, coordination, or personality. Our brain is enormously complex and testing is helpful to understand which (if any) of these signals are relevant. 

Signs a Psychological Evaluation Test May Be Necessary

By knowing the symptoms and early warning signs of mental illness, one could proactively seek the help of a psychologist or other mental health professional. The American Psychiatric Association outlines several warning signs that warrant a psych evaluation. These include:

• Social withdrawal: Losing interest in interacting with others, especially close friends and family.
• Problems with thinking: Having issues with memory, concentration, speech, and logical, rational thought.
• Decreased functioning: Having significant difficulties at school, work, or social activities. This includes quitting previously enjoyed activities and struggles to perform routine tasks.
• Apathy: Loss of motivation and desire to participate in familiar tasks.
• Disconnected feelings: A hard-to-shake idea of being disconnected from oneself or surroundings. A feeling of reality has been altered in some way.
• Increased sensitivity: Being affected or overloaded by sensory input like sights, sounds, and touch. Avoiding situations in fear of over-stimulation.
• Mood changes: Unexplained rapid or dramatic shifts in emotions.
• Unusual behavior: Acting in uncharacteristic ways of displaying peculiar behaviors.
• Changes in sleep or appetite: Declining personal care due to changes in sleep and eating patterns.
• Irrational thinking: Illogical thought patterns that impact daily functioning. These could include intrusive thoughts, “magical” thinking, or unusual and exaggerated beliefs.
• Anxiety or paranoia: Fears or suspicions of others, situations, or one’s environment.

Source: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/psychologists/what-i-need-to-know-about-a-psych-evaluation/

What is a Psychological Evaluation? 

In short, a psychological evaluation is what allows us to get to the root of your condition. Psychologists offer scientifically designed tests to determine what the exact label of the condition you have is, so that a proper treatment plan (made in conjunction with your family doctor) can be created and followed to get you back to living life. 

Just as doctors might take an x-ray, psych evals are done to make sure that we are treating the correct condition in the correct way. 

What is Assessed?

A typical psychological evaluation can involve tests of:

• Adaptive Behavior Scales
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Scales
• Attention and Concentration
• Bariatric Evaluations
• Competency Evaluations/Diminished Capacity
• Emotional/Behavior Rating Scales
• Fitness for Duty Evaluations
• General Intellect
• Higher level Executive Skills – Sequencing, Reasoning, Problem Solving
• Intelligence
• Learning and Memory (Including Learning Disorders)
• Perception Skills
• Motor and Sensory Skills
• Mood and Personality
• Personality 
• Projective Tests
• Trauma Scales

What Will the Results Tell Me?

Test results can be used to understand your situation in a few ways.

• Testing gives us a whole picture of your situation, and so can help us find any weaknesses in your thinking. Our sophisticated testing practices allow us to find issues that can’t be seen during day-to-day activities. For example, testing can help determine whether difficulties learning are disordered or simply age and development related.  Testing can also tell us to what extent certain medical conditions affect your mind, such as hormonal conditions, metabolic diseases, addiction or alcoholism.

• Psych Evals can also identify your strengths to build on for treatment. Someone with an unstructured learning style may need a therapy that matches their style, or perhaps require more specific interventions to overcome disorganized thinking. Diagnosis greatly informs later therapies. 
• Test results can direct appropriate treatment. This is because an accurate diagnosis is key for accurate treatment. For instance, testing can help to differentiate among Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and depression. Your physician will use your psych eval along with the results of other tests, such as imaging or physical evaluations, to come to the most informed diagnosis possible. More information is always better for guiding treatment. 

How Does the Center for Personal Growth Perform Psych Evals?

We start with a written questionnaire to narrow down potential testing focuses. When once we have a likely condition we have a one on one meeting (How much time?) to make the diagnosis as exact as possible. Some typical things that we test include personality, memory and cognition. 

Psychological Evaluations for Education

Psych Evals have become a necessary step for many students in the schools. Many parents seek a psych eval for their child to find out why their child is falling behind in school even though they are putting in the time and effort. Often they find that their child has sometime of learning disorder such as ADD. Not only can treatment and therapy for learning disorders be sought, but extra help can be given as well. Once parents have a diagnosis for their child and show the results to the school counselors/teachers, an Individualized Education Plan can be made to help their child succeed. 

Some benefits for students with a psych eval and relevant diagnosis:

• Individualized Education Plan
• 504 Plan
• Acceptance in the gifted/talented program

How do we test students? 

We often start by having an initial interview with the student and parents to get an idea of what the educational background of the student is, it can be helpful to review actions or notes from the school about the student (report cards, disciplinary actions). Then we will do some cognitive tests to test reasoning, memory, working efficiency and executive functioning. We may do some academic and personality testing if necessary. All diagnostic tests are based on the psychologists observations of the student during these tests, after which their experience will inform the diagnosis.